Candles
by nlizzette7
Summary: "Blair will tell you that Chuck was the one to fall first." A past and future take on Blair's birthday. CB. One-shot.


**To my lovely new writing buddy, Molly (Morsly on FF), on her birthday. She asked me to write a missing moment from Blair's birthday party in 'Seventeen Candles' - so here's my take on it. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. Happy birthday, Molly!**

* * *

_You're Cordially Invited_

_To Blair Bass' Forty-Fifth Birthday Soiree_

_At the Bass Penthouse – 8 PM sharp_

_RSVP to Dorota_

_She'll wear black as she did twenty-three years ago – when her skin was lineless and her heart was as cold as the ruby red Vanderbilt ring hugging her finger. She'll curl her hair into flawless ringlets, paint her lips a color that matches her husband's favorite Chardonnay. Her brow will crinkle, and she'll roll her eyes when Chuck pulls at the strings running down the back of her corset, stifling a moan with an angry reprimand when his lips find the nape of her neck._

_"No, Chuck!"_

_"Ten minutes."_

_"No."_

_"Five."_

_She'll purse her lips, catch his smug smirk in the mirror, dig her fingers into the wooden vanity in front of her._

_"Make it four, Bass," Blair will whisper, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the catering staff downstairs. Chuck will grin then, reaching up to unravel the fresh bow around his neck, so lost in his desire for the matured, regal woman quivering under his fingertips that he won't hear the footsteps in the hall, the disgusted groan emanating from their seventeen-year-old son._

_"Jesus, Dad," Henry will sigh, gesturing to his father's half-unbuttoned dress shirt, his mother's disheveled black slip. "The party is literally going on, like, now. Downstairs." He'll shove his hands in his pockets, runs his hands through the sweep of black waves atop his head. "Don't you two ever give it a rest?"_

_"Now, we both know how insatiable your mother is," Chuck will smirk, making no effort to recover his appearance. "I wanted to give her one of her birthday presents before the festivities commenced…"_

_"I'm traumatized," Henry will cough, backing away. "For life." He'll shake his head. "I'm going to need therapy – with you two as my parents."_

_"Henry," Blair will scold, rolling her eyes. "You know to knock." She'll snatch her robe from her dresser, drop it around her shoulders to join her son at their doorway. She'll put her hands on either one of his shoulders easily, now that he's just her height, and smile. "You also know not to listen to your father. He has no filter."_

_Chuck will laugh._

_"Right," Henry will chuckle in a way that echoes an elder Bass, leaning over to kiss his mother's rosy cheek. "Happy birthday, Mom."_

_"Thank you, darling. Now go check on your sister."_

_"Mom – "_

_"Now, Henry."_

_"Audrey's sleeping, Mom. Relax."_

_And then Chuck will chime in with raised eyebrows, "Listen to your mother, son. She's always been a bit temperamental on her birthday."_

"I'm not in the mood, Chuck," Blair says. "This is pretty much the worst birthday ever." Chuck watches her for a moment, the adorable frown on face, the black tulle of her skirt swirled out around her. He worked hard to memorize her skin on the night before, the way she whimpered over and over again, short breaths dragging out right beside his ear as they rode across Manhattan. But now he's uncomfortable, hit by the weight of adoration clouding his mind, the shift of a thousand prickling flutters in his stomach. He can't decide if he loves it or hates it.

So he decides he doesn't care.

"Maybe it can be salvaged," Chuck says, his usual swagger slipping into something that sounds much too romantic for his sanity.

He's nervous.

He doesn't like that either.

"Is that our sex tape?" Blair smirks, glancing down at the box in his hands. He wants to laugh because she never did get enough credit for her wit, but she's too close to him now. She smells too good. He's only had half a drink tonight...

And yet he's intoxicated.

Chuck offers a cool grin as he pulls the lid open, watches as her clear brown eyes reflect the diamonds in his hands. He doesn't know why seeing her face like this is the most beautiful thing he's ever unraveled. He doesn't know why his nonexistent heart is suddenly stuttering to attention. He doesn't know how this story goes.

He only knows that, when Blair draws in a sharp breath, he's done something right.

"It's the Erikson Beamon necklace." She's starting to look at him like she sees the shell of a prince in a place of a villain. "No…I couldn't."

"Yes, you can," Chuck replies, and there's something about draping the jewels around her neck that makes him feels like a part of her is in his hands now. It's an obsession. It's an infatuation. It's pure, unadulterated lust. Maybe it's a challenge, and he wants to break her down until she's just like all the rest. Maybe –

"Something this beautiful – deserves to be seen on someone worthy of its beauty."

_Maybe it's something more._

Chuck decides to be honest then. "I really am sorry." Her eyes flicker up to meet his in an instant, almost as if she's startled by his apology. His fingers graze the necklace, and she holds his hand like she can't stand that he's not touching her. It's a mutual sentiment. They ask questions through simple touches, hesitant glances, as Blair allows herself to fit the jagged pieces of herself into him. He thaws her chill. Her light frightens his demons away.

He kisses the curve of her shoulder. _I'm here._

She leans into him. _And that's okay._

_Their friends will like to hear the story of Chuck and Blair – even when they're older and the games are over – they'll like to hear how they, so much like a classic love saga, grew into two wickedly in-love brunettes, ruling over Manhattan. _

_"So, all of that was happening right under our noses at your party," Dan will chime in, sliding his hand into Serena's, nuzzling the top of his daughter's head. The little girl will begin to cry, exhausted and far past her bedtime. And he'll hush her, "It's okay CeeCee."_

_"Oh, don't look so surprised, Gossip Girl," Georgina will drawl, eyes intent on Jack teaching Milo dastardly things across the room. Before Dan can even defend himself, she'll already be halfway across the room._

_"Come on," Dan will urge on. "I want to hear it."_

_Blair will sigh then, her lips lifting at one side. "This better not end up in another one of your crappy novels, Humphrey."_

_Chuck will smirk then – smug and nostalgic as he always gets when he remembers bending the Queen of Constance until he broke her into the Blair who's always been his. He'll tell them that his heart panged in a way that could only be satiated by red tights and headbands. By a girl who loved Audrey Hepburn and traced his jaw with three fingertips every time she fell more in love with him._

_Blair will tell them that Chuck was the one to fall first._

They kiss.

There's no need for initiation or trepidation. Chuck doesn't have to pull her in, and Blair doesn't have to feign coyness. They kiss each other, lips open desperately, fingers fumbling with the sureness of two lost lovers. She wants to tell him that maybe, just maybe, queens aren't meant to be with princes like Nate. He wants to admit that she's under his skin.

Neither have to say a word.

_Chuck will tell them that he locked the door, and Blair will roll her eyes and slap his arm because he lies just as well as she does._

_Serena will only glance down and smile._

"Wait," Blair says, breaking away when they fall into a familiar, horizontal dance, her back pressed into foreign sheets, his teeth pulling skin and leaving her breathless.

"Wait?" Chuck echoes, bearing the brunt of an invisible wound as he leans up on one elbow. "For what?"

"Not _here, _Bass," Blair says, administering an angry shove to the center of his chest. She gets up, cheeks flaring red as she abandons him on the bed, ignoring the disappointed frown on his face as she stops in front of the door. She closes her eyes and sees Nate's apologetic shrug, feels her mother's sharp fingernails on her arm.

She remembers that Chuck told her to define like. She remembers that the question was left unanswered. Her fingers curl around the doorknob.

"Not here," Blair repeats, waiting for the click of gears fitting together inside of the shut door. "Unless the door is locked."

_This is it._

He's behind her in a second, hands anchored on her hips, spinning her around in his arms. Blair lets out a surprised laugh against his lips as her body molds right up against his front, savoring a boy so eager to be with her, even if it is Chuck Bass –who she'd once found stripped down to his boxers on a rooftop. She hooks her arms around his neck, nearly trips as she falls against him, stumbling on her way to the bed. But Chuck only grins against her lips, always up to something, as he steers her away.

"Chuck. _What _are you doing?" Blair whispers in protest, glaring at him as he stations her in front of the floor-length mirror in the room, forcing her to look at herself as he moves behind her. Her voice is lower this time, unsure as she feels the cold zipper sliding down her back. She repeats, "What…are you doing?"

"You're going to watch." His grin is devilish. "We're both going to watch." Blair wavers as his breath washes across the back of her neck. Despite herself, she reaches for his hands when they come around her waist.

"I will _not_ – "

"You should know better than to argue with me," Chuck smirks, bowing her back against him the minute her dress hits the floor. "You won't win." Blair gasps, eyes widening when he chuckles in her ear, admiring the plain black La Perlas hugging her curves. He concentrates on plucking the pins from her hair until the brown locks are falling in wild waves down to her flushed chest, around her porcelain face. Chuck drops the joke, groans in her ear, "You're so beautiful." Nate has never – "Look at yourself, Waldorf." No one has ever –

"You're perfect."

_"No," Nate will say then, wincing. "No details." And then he'll narrow his eyes at Blair, shoot her a playfully angry look. "You gave me so much crap about that night. And meanwhile, you were…" Nate will trail off, shaking his head at two of his best friends._

_"Are you sure about that, Nathaniel?" Chuck will ask, raising a brow as he sips a bit of his Red Hook. "You might learn something." The rest of the group will fall into a fit of groans and laughter, turn the conversation to other things. And, while they do, Chuck will hold his wife's gaze, looking at her as he did when they were seventeen._

_Like he sees perfection when her castle has been built with crumbling bricks._

_Like he sees fire, and she forgets to be ice._

She's wearing nothing but the diamonds, and it makes Chuck want to worship her.

Blair stares at her reflection, eyes wide and hesitant, blood that is much too sober, as he kneels in front of her. She breathes in, breathes out, watching as his lips find the bone of her hip, the slope of her knee, the beauty mark just above her bellybutton. She stumbles forward, and he catches her, fingers gripping her thighs.

And this is how it begins with them. He pulls her from a rigid throne, and she brings him to his knees.

"Chuck," Blair demands under a breathy moan, tangling her fingers in his hair, mussing it up, when he reaches the very top of her thigh – the indent between sweet pleasure and utter oblivion. "_Now_."

"Impatient, are we?" Chuck asks. Blair stares down at him, biting down on her lip as she takes in his opened shirt, the pink boxers slung around his hips. He kisses her stomach once more before taking her hands and dragging down to the floor beside him. She barely has time to complain before she's on his lap, facing away from him, knees on either side of bent legs.

_God._

"Like this?" Blair asks, forcing steadiness into her voice.

"Like this," Chuck echoes, lifting her hips with one hand, reaching to slide down his boxers with the other. His eyes never leave their reflection, and his fingers find her chin, thrusting her face up. "I want you to see." She sinks down onto him, letting out an embarrassingly loud moan that fights off the thumping beat of party music just outside of the door. She tilts her head, arches her back against his chest. "Eyes open, Blair."

She watches.

Blair watches as they fall into a desperate rhythm, inexplicably captivated by the way he can make her move, by the unrecognizable expression on her face, dainty features twisted under lust. Her lips form his name, and he sinks deeper into her when he pulls her legs apart, leans them both over.

"Don't you see?" Chuck rasps, rolling his hips forward, holding her still. "You don't need a cage." His fingers fall from her chin, grasp her breasts, trace the birds on her necklace before falling to her stomach, and then to the throbbing nub of heat just above where they're joined. "You're not just beautiful when you're obedient." His eyes darken, and Blair watches him snap. "I can make you _sing_." Chuck angles his hips forward, and Blair stifles a scream, blinded, electrified, twisting tightly above him and around him, reaching back to dig her nails into his thigh.

"_Yes_."

"Like that?" Chuck groans, his lips falling open as he thrusts again. "Blair – " His voice breaks off as he holds her, clinging onto her quivering form, breaking underneath her, sliding his hands across her damp skin. They watch each other, they watch together.

They push, pull, and collide.

_"That's a pretty necklace, Mommy," Audrey will murmur once the penthouse falls silent, Henry disappears to woo his girlfriend at another party, and Chuck runs a bath for them both. Her pale pink nightgown will swirl around her feet as she sneaks up behind her mother, a plush white rabbit hanging by its ear from her fingertips._

_Blair will grasp the diamond birds instinctively, smiling at her daughter, although she should be demanding that she gets back to bed. "Your father gave it to me."_

_"Daddy always give you pretty things," Audrey will say, ever-observant. Her little hands will find the sparkling wedding ring on her mother's finger._

_"That's only because your mother gives me pretty things, too," Chuck will say, sneaking behind the miniature brunette and scooping her into his arms. Audrey will giggle, tucking her face into the curve of his neck like her mother often does. "I've got her, I've got you, and Henry…"_

_"Don't call Henry pretty! Yuck," Audrey will pout, her voice dropping to a low whisper. "He'll get upset. Henry's always so gloomy, and…he thinks he's a lot funnier than he really is."_

_"Hm" Blair will grin, twisting her hair up. "Much like another teenage Bass."_

When it's over, Blair slumps back in exhaustion, allowing a second of mindless behavior, letting him hold her. But a fit of laughter from outside breaks into their reverie, and Blair snaps to attention, eyes widening, limbs untangling. Chuck watches as she gathers her dress, pulls her slip back on, rights herself. He gets a flash of the night before – of her rolling away from him, stepping out of the limo with a whispered goodbye.

He prepares himself – forces himself not to care.

"Leaving so soon?" Chuck smirks. "I'm sure that your guests will enjoy your afterglow." Blair pauses as he sits back against the bed, suddenly seeing a blur between the place where she's supposed to be, and here – right here.

_You look ravishing. If I were your man, I wouldn't need clues to find you._

Blair shakes her head, dropping her dress onto the chaise in the corner.

_You were…amazing up there._

She sighs, ignoring the surprised look on his face when she sits down at his side.

_Something this beautiful – deserves to be seen on someone worthy of its beauty. _

"Bass," Blair murmurs, tiredly slipping under the duvet. "You have five minutes to get all of those people out of this apartment if you'd like to join me."

Chuck grins. "And then?"

Blair simply bites her lip and raises her eyebrows in response.

"Waldorf," Chuck calls, already heading for the door. "You have no idea what you're in for."

_Blair will tell them that Chuck was the one to fall first._

Blair grins, touching her lips when she hears him making some spectacle to shoo people away outside.

_Because she lies just as well as he does._


End file.
